Sometimes we all encounter a word we do not know. But two words in a row? Malteser? Tiffin?
Maltesers are candies from Mars that are sold in Great Britain but, sadly not here. They are, by description, a malt ball with honey. I’m not sure what it will taste like, but I have 130 grams on the way thanks to Amazon.
Tiffin is more complicated. In India, a tiffin is a small cake, often served for lunch or for a snack. In Wales, a tiffin is something else: an unbaked cookie rich in butter and chocolate. I was researching tiffins because I had one that called for cherries and I am just not fond of cherries and chocolate. No Black Forest Cake for me.
I did find this Malteser Tiffin recipe and then I discovered that maltesers are siblings with regular malt balls. So, I made this cookie using the recipe below but substituted milk chocolate-cover malt balls.
You refrigerate these to become solid, instead of baking. I’m keeping mine in the fridge and they come out cold, solid, and flavor-inspired. The combination of milk chocolate top and bottom with the chunks of malt ball is candy heaven. Crunched up Walkers shortbread cookies are in the base and, yes, you can taste their buttery sweetness. Is this tiffin candy or is it a cookie? I don’t care. You won’t either.
The recipe below calls for using whole maltesers in the batter, but I had large malt balls. As the picture shows, I quartered them so that they could drift and fit within the batter layer.
Clearly, if I did not like cherries and went down the malt ball path, you are free to improvise, too. Other fruits, nuts, or candies can be substituted. Or mixed. This is a marvelous template to let you build the flavor profile you always wanted but could never find in an American candy store.
The recipe calls for golden syrup. That’s another British item that you may find in an American supermarket and you may not. There are varying descriptions of substitutes for golden syrup on the web. It’s corn syrup + honey or corn syrup + molasses, to cite two cases. I went for the version with equal parts corn syrup and honey.
Finally, when you read this recipe, see if you note something odd about the measurements. I’ve got the answer below after the photo credit.
Malteser Tiffin
Yield: 20+ squares depending on how you carve them up
Ingredients:
For the cookie:
- 200g milk chocolate (I use Lindt milk chocolate)
- 100g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- 125g digestive biscuits [British for shortbread cookies, like Walkers]
- 135g bag of Maltesers
For the topping:
- 200g milk chocolate
- 25g unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon golden syrup
Preparation:
Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment. Place the 200g of chocolate, butter and syrup in a heat-proof bowl and melt over a pan of barely simmering water or in the microwave. Once almost melted, remove from the heat and gently stir until any tiny bits chocolate have melted. Allow to cool a little.
Place the biscuits and 35g of the Maltesers in a freezer bag, seal and crush with a rolling pin. You want mainly crumbs but a few small chunks of biscuit is fine.
Top the crushed mixture and whole Maltesers (save 1 or 2 for yourself) to the melted chocolate and stir until everything is coated. Press into the prepared tin and make the topping.
For the topping, melt the chocolate, butter and syrup as before and spread over the biscuit base.
Cover the tin with cling film or foil and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before cutting into squares.
Source: BBCGoodFood.com
Photo Information [Top]: Canon T2i, EFS 60mm Macro Lens, F/4 for1/30th second at ISO‑200
Photo Information [Bottom]: Canon T2i, EFS 60mm Macro Lens, F/4 for1/30th second at ISO‑200
On the measurements: I find it so curious that in this recipe the pan size is stated in centimeters and the chocolate and butter are measured in grams. But the liquid components are in teaspoons and tablespoons. A true metric-English-system compromise.
